The numbers are in: Fewer California state workers have retired so far this year than during the first 11 months of last year.
Nearly 9 percent fewer employees have applied for their first pension checks this year, according to new statistics from the California Public Employees' Retirement System.
The numbers run through mid-November, with 9,721 CalPERS members retiring this year from jobs with the state, compared with 10,671 in the same period last year.
CalPERS counts initial pension applications from midmonth to midmonth, so the latest numbers include filings for the last half of October and the first half of November.
Meanwhile, the total number of state plus local government retirement applications to CalPERS for the period is off nearly 8 percent from 2011, despite significant monthly increases ranging from 24 percent to 75 percent over the last three months.
It looks like this year will end with fewer state employees retiring than last year, but monthly retirements are picking up, 20 percent since August.
If the trend continues, look for a spike in January. More state workers retire at the end of December than at any other time.
– Jon Ortiz
BALLOT WATCH
Nearly three weeks after Election Day, Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom and sitting Assemblywoman Betsy Butler – backed by Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez – are still waiting to see which of the two Democrats will win a coastal Assembly seat from Los Angeles County. Bloom extended his lead Friday from 79 votes to 430, with the final county tally due Dec. 4.
– Jim Sanders
WORTH REPEATING
"I kept my message positive and I talked about my record and what I wanted to do if elected, and voters in my district responded."
CATHLEEN GALGIANI, an assemblywoman newly elected to the state Senate, saying voters reacted to a campaign in which she focused on legislative issues. Interest groups did the mudslinging on her behalf.
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